Some how Colt SAA and 357 Magnum strikes me as an Oxymoron.
Howdy
Colt chambered the Single Action Army for 357 Magnum the same year Smith and Wesson invented it, 1935.
I load and shoot black powder cartridges regularly. It takes me less time to clean than when I use traditional solvents to clean after shooting smokeless ammo.
Me too. You just have to perfect your cleaning technique. No stinky, toxic Smokeless solvents, Black Powder solvents are water based. Yes, cleaning up after shooting Black Powder is messy, no way around that. But it is not as difficult or as time consuming as most shooters think.
Regarding your choice of calibers, in normal times 38 Special and/or 357 Magnum is always easier to find than 45 Colt on the shelf of any local gun store. No idea what the availability of either is now.
38 Special will always be less expensive to shoot than 45 Colt.
Yes, you can always fire 38 Special ammunition in any revolver chambered for 357 Magnum, with less recoil and less muzzle blast.
Don't get me wrong, at last count I have five Colt Single Action Army revolvers and one Uberti chambered for 45 Colt. None of mine are chambered for 357 Mag, a couple are chambered for 38-40. But that's just me, I am a traditionalist.
Any revolver chambered for 357 Magnum will always be heavier than one chambered for 45 Colt, all other things being equal, because of the bigger holes in a 45.
Before you ask the question, any modern single action revolver chambered for 357 Magnum is perfectly capable of shooting standard SAAMI spec 357 Magnum ammunition. One does not have to shoot stuff that is loaded down.
One other thing. Take a look at the post about the Myth of the 45 Colt cartridge. I have noticed for years now that lots of new comers to Cowboy Action Shooting just have to have their revolvers chambered for 45 Colt. Then they find out that most commercial 45 Colt ammunition generates a fair amount of recoil. Nothing earth shaking, but more than they want to put up with. Then they try downloading the 45 Colt cartridge to powder puff loads so they can shoot really fast. Eventually most of these guys realize that a big cavernous case like 45 Colt does not do very well with 2 flakes of Whiz Bang and they usually sell their 45s and buy 357s, and down load them so they recoil really, really light. If you want light recoil, 45 Colt is not the best option. Like I say, the recoil of commercial 45 Colt ammunition is nothing like 44 Magnum, but it can be stout.